Gina
by aussiechick00
Summary: it's 2023 and Georgina Gomez is 14. when her so called mother, Alice Gomez, sends her to Kadic academy, she meets Erin, a snobby rich girl who she is bunking with. with Erin, Gina discovers something that no one thought she would find...
1. Chapter 1

Gina stumbled into the house clumsily. It had been snowing outside, again. The middle of winter, her least favourite time of year. But that was okay. She was going to boarding school tomorrow anyway, and she was going to go to the warmer climate of France instead of the rough, Canadian weather. Lazily, Gina dumped her backpack, coat and scarf onto the floor. She shook out the snow in her hair and felt lots of little shivers fall down her spine as the snowflakes dropped down her back. As she stretched out, she noticed the air smelled slightly burnt and the house seemed smokier than normal.

"I'm home!" she called into the house, concerned. There was a very muffled response of "okay!" from the kitchen. Her mum, Alice. Gina rolled her eyes and grinned, smothering giggles. She jogged down the hall and into the very smoky kitchen. Alice was standing over an oven, trying to pull something out. Gina raised an eyebrow. She walked over and took Alice's hand. Alice looked at her and smiled, handing the oven gloves over. Gina smiled back gently, then yanked out the oven tray and placed it onto the stove, closing the very smoke stained oven.

"What happened this time?" she chuckled. Alice half smiled.

"Your father was trying to cook, but he left the oven on when he went out," she explained, "he said he turned it off, the lying sod," she added, a grin on her face and her cheeks reddening. She somehow liked the forgetful, clumsy nature of Will, her husband. Gina stared at her. Sometimes she couldn't believe they were related. Her mother had dark tanned skin and an elegant, beautiful face. She was practically perfect. She was stylish, she worked out, and she was even an excellent cook, unlike Will. But Gina had olive skin and deep brown eyes that looked almost black. She was a natural at most martial arts and she was a complete tomboy. Sometimes she even dreamed about people she'd never met, faces she'd never seen. But the most vivid was that of a woman dressed in almost completely black, Japanese, with short black hair that caressed her shoulders gently. She had a kind, yet fierce face and a pretty smile. But the thing that trumped Gina about this woman though, was that she had the exact same eyes. Their slight gleam in the corner, the piercing, curious gaze, the knowing and understanding glow, it was the same.

"Gina," Alice said. Gina looked at her, "your miles away, sweet pea," Alice told her. "Something on your mind? Boys? Puberty?" she added with masked defence. If there was one thing she hated more than anything, it was talking about personal matters. Gina shook her head with a convincing smile.

"No, it's nothing, just a weird dream about some weird lady," she said. Alice's forced smile seemed to falter slightly. But she didn't say anything. "I'm going to get packed, new school, new friends, new clothes?" she tried, subtly asking for a new wardrobe. Alice rolled her eyes. She hurried Gina out, promising a shopping spree if she packed in under ten minutes. Gina winked and ran to her room. Her room was small. It was crammed high to the ceiling with boxes from previous moves, and there was an empty suitcase on her bed. A note was taped to it that read "gotcha! Kadic is waiting". Gina rolled her eyes and began to toss her stuff inside.

Kadic academy was a tall school. It had three main school buildings, a massive oval and separate dormitories and a lunch hall. It had a huge gymnasium and a bunch of other buildings that people said were for study and after school activities. It had a dull green paint and yet looked extremely elegant. Not a single leaf was out of place, there were perfect classes, perfect students, pretty much perfect everything.

"Um, Georgina Gomez? The principal will see you," said the receptionist. It was a man, tall, elegant and handsome like the rest of the school. Gina stood up, biting her lip with worry. Alice held the door open for her and she was led inside. The principal was sitting at her desk. She had dark hair that was tied back in a neat ponytail, her face was covered in a reasonable amount of makeup and her face looked like she wouldn't mind if someone punched it. She had a large, toothy grin on as she gestured to where Gina and her mum should sit.

"So, your Georgina, right?" the principal said, she held out a perfectly manicured hand, "I'm principal Elizabeth Delmas, nice to meet you, Miss Gomez," she said fondly. Gina smiled and shook Principal Delmas's hand. She glanced around Principal Delmas's desk. There were pencils neatly arranged, picture frames with an old man and a young looking Principal Delmas, and there was also a piece of paper with phone numbers. Yumi Ishiyama, Odd Della Robbia, Jeremy Belpois and Aelita Hopper's phone numbers. There was one last one with hearts around it. It said Ulrich Stern. Gina quickly grabbed the list and shoved it into her hoodie pocket. She was always too curious for her own safety. Principal Delmas smiled at Gina, then turned to Alice. She didn't seem to notice the list was gone, but she seemed like a good actress.

"so, don't worry, Mrs Gomez, everything is worked out, Georgina is ensured a healthy, sociable community here at Kadic, she'll learn lots from our specialist teachers and she will..." Gina tuned after that. Her mum was talking about school rules and promises, best time to run like hell if you can. She looked at all the walls. There were thousands of pictures of five kids. One of them was short with blond hair, spiked with a purple splodge in the center. Another was a pink haired girl with a cheeky grin and yet stressed eyes. there were two other boys, one with brown hair and a stern gaze and one with glasses who seemed too authoritive to be how every old he was, like, twelve? The only one that really stuck out to Gina though, was a tall, beautiful Japanese looking teenager. She had her arm wrapped around the brown haired boys shoulders and a relieved smile on her pretty face. And the reason she stuck out, was that she looked exactly like the woman in Gina's dream.

"so what do you say to that, Georgina?" Gina's head snapped back to Principal Delmas.

"yeah, cool," she said. Principal Delmas's welcoming smile fell slightly and seemed more concerned. She looked at the photographs around the room that Gina had been looking at. She bit her lip and almost seemed to glare at the japanese girl. She blinked her pretty eyes and turned back to Gina, her smile returning.

"Miss Fi-Kay will lead you around," she said, gesturing to a woman at the back of the room that Gina hadn't noticed when she came in. The woman was lean, fit and blonde. Yet she seemed vengeful and seemed to dislike Principal Delmas.

"yes, I will," she said. It seemed like a spiteful remark though. Miss Fi-Kay glared at Principal Delmas, while the pretty head mistress smiled back as if Miss Fi-kay had given her backstage passes to the sub digital juniors. Miss Fi-kay was suddenly standing next to Gina. She pulled back her chair and gestured her to get up with a short, shrill whistle. Gina scrabbled up and followed Miss Fi-kay out the door. Principal Delmas looked at Alice. Alice smiled lightly, unsure on how Principal Delmas would react, realising who she and her daughter were. Principal Delmas's face became serious and irritated. She stood up.

"so, how are Ulrich and Yumi?" she asked.

Miss Fi Kay was silent as she led Gina towards one of the dreary looking dormitories. There was an awkward feeling in Gina's mind, she felt that Miss Fi Kay was, almost jealous of Principal Delmas. It wasn't surprising. Principal Delmas was glamorous, kind, practical. At least that was Gina's view. Miss Fi kay glanced back at Gina gently, this time.

"you're gonna share a room if that's okay," she said simply. She had a tingly voice, that made Gina's heart melt like butter. It was shocking that such a sweet voice came from such a rough, vengefully looking woman. "your room is room 236, it's upstairs on the right, here's your key," she said. Gina smiled. Miss Fi kay fiddled in her pocket for a few seconds and pulled out a small key. She dropped it lightly into Gina's hand and smiled.

"good luck with your room mate, you'll need it," she added.

"thanks?" Gina tried. Miss Fi kay smiled genuinely and waved her goodbye. Gina gave her a little smile and headed upstairs. There were lots of rooms upstairs, most of them had some form of heart or flower design on and they all seemed kind of feeble. Gina continuously repeated her room number as she passed the many doors. 233, 234, 235, 236. Gina stopped at a large door. it was lined with some shiny, silver stuff and there was a plaque of 236 instead of the little wooden label. There was loud music from inside, by Kumi Koda. Cautiously Gina clicked the key in and unlocked the door. inside the music came in a sudden wave of sound and Gina almost stumbled backwards from the volume. The room was artistic, it stood out from the rest of the school. It was a baby purple colour with little blue flowers dotted here and there, and the occasional musical stave and treble clef. There was a single table at the back of the room, beneath a window. It had a large stereo sitting on it and a few drawers underneath. Sitting on the bed on the left side of the room was a short girl. She had straight red hair that came to about the middle of her back, but it was tied up in a stylish French plait. The girl had a soft face, that seemed unimpressed and kind of snobby. The girl saw Gina and smile, jumping off her bed and standing in front of Gina.

"hello, my name's Erin Campbell-Logan. I'm your roommate," she said pleasantly. Gina held her hand out to shake.

"and I'm Gina Gomez, nice to meet you," she said, not understanding why Miss Fi kay had given her luck. Erin looked down at Gina's hand. she had an amused smile that seemed oddly confused.

"uh, sorry, but I can't possibly shake hands with you," she giggled. Gina looked at her, puzzled. "sorry, but I'm much too high a class to shake hands with such a second class citizen," Erin explained. To her it seemed perfectly reasonable, but Gina was almost ready to wring the girl's neck.

"sorry I didn't meet your high standards?" she said sarcastically. Erin smiled and curtseyed sweetly, skipping out. Gina stared after her, not believing anyone could be such a snob. Especially not such an angelically cute looking girl like Erin. Suddenly, Erin's head poked round the corner.

"aren't you coming? You may be low class but I'm sure you still wanna eat, right?" she said. Gina shook her head and followed her.

"don't worry," she said.

"I won't," Erin said, turning her nose up and running off.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 3

_Dear mum,_

_Hi, how are you? It's been about a month since I arrived here, yeah, I can't believe it! I met this girl called Erin who I have to share a room with. She's a complete snob though, she won't even shake my hand because apparently I'm too low a_

Gina stopped writing there. She couldn't write that, that would be unkind and spiteful. She had been at Kadic a month now, and even though she was a snob, Erin had shown her around and she was the only one who actually talked to Gina here. Gina shook her head. No, she wouldn't tell her mum, at least not yet. Briskly, she scrunched up the letter and tossed it clumsily into the bin. The door behind her opened casually and Erin strode in, her bath robe slipping a bit. She even wore a designer bath robe.

"still vulgar as ever I see," Erin said calmly. Gina poked her tongue out at Erin, who grinned back mockingly. Neither would admit it, but they at least respected each other by now. Erin changed about as fast as a camera flash and then fell into her bed lazily.

"wow, talk about witchcraft," Gina muttered. Erin blew a raspberry at her, "oh and that's classy?" Gina laughed.

"go take a shower, Gina, you need one," Erin sighed. Gina stared at her, not sure whether to take it as a suggestion or an insult.

"Suggestion or insult, Rin cake," she said, using Erin's mother's nickname for her that Gina enjoyed tormenting her with. Erin grimaced at Gina and waved her hand in two circles. Gina sighed and grabbed her toiletries and headed out.

"so, Gina, how has your first month been?" Principal Delmas asked fondly. Gina sat in front of her with a calm gaze in her eyes. in truth she was still extremely curious about the people in the photo frames that were stuck everywhere.

"it's been fine Miss, I've made lots of friends," Gina responded. It, of course, translated to: sure, people keep imitating my accent and I've only talked to one person. Principal Delmas smiled.

"great, your, um, mother called, she asked how you were getting on, so I'll pass it on to her okay?" she said kindly. Gina nodded and headed for the door. then she stopped.

"ma'am, who are those kids in the photo frames?" she asked. Principal Delmas shot a shocked look at her, outraged even. Her gaze softened soon after though.

"they're old friends, Miss Gomez," she told her sofly. Gina looked at her, unconvinced, but continued out to her classes. Principal looked at the photo frames around the room and especially at the black haired girl. She still never managed to figure out what they had been up to all those years. But what she couldn't understand the most, was why Yumi Ishiyama, the noble and man stealing martial artist would give her own child up for adoption? She turned to the image of Ulrich.

"Ulrich how could you?" she asked, unable to summon up how distressed and hurt she felt for Gina. She clenched her fists, "well, she's gonna find out, whether you tell her or not," she said.

Gina had been sitting in the park for the last hour or so, just staring at the list of phone numbers, not sure whether she was going to give it back or look into it more. Usually she could make snap decisions, knew exactly what she was going to do and was great with strategy. But this, nothing. She sensed it had something to do with the pictures that were put up everywhere in the principal's office. Lately she had been getting a tingly feeling in the pit of her stomach whenever she was in the park. As if it was trying to lure her somewhere. But she usually just ignored it.

"gina?" Gina turned to see Erin's pretty face looking down at her. "you wanna check out the woods? It's like a giant maze, I wanna see whether the rat is smart enough to find it's way around" she said. Gina was obviously meant to be the rat, but she ignored Erin's insult. she nodded, stuffing the list back into her pockets. She held her hand up so Erin could help her up. Erin raised an eyebrow and just looked in disgust at Gina's hand until she dropped it.

"god, you have to get over this high and low class thing," Gina sighed as she pulled herself up.

"I'll get over it when you exfoliate," Erin snapped. Gina rolled her eyes and chuckled, walking with Erin. She wondered if the two would ever properly get along. Erin was a smart, classy, charismatic rich girl. Gina was just a smart, classy, charismatic rich girl's roommate. There were times when Gina thought Erin wasn't even an acquaintance. She would never be anything like the ballerina graceful Erin. Somehow that comforted her in a way. She wouldn't admit to herself why. Erin turned to her and frowned, noticing Gina's fixed gaze on her, the sorrow and admiration in her deep, dark eyes.

"what?" Erin snapped. Gina blinked and smiled at her.

"nothing, just wondering how such a small, elegant looking girl could be such a snob," she said cheerfully. Erin glared at her and sped up her step through the woods. Gina stopped, she hadn't even realised they'd arrived, let alone gotten this far. She was sure she was lost, but Erin seemed to know the way perfectly. Erin stopped too. She clicked her fingers to get Gina's attention.

"wake up, Gina, most people sleep at night, or didn't you know?" she barked. Gina scoffed and ran to catch up with her. Erin continued to walk as Gina shot past her, Erin stopped with her hands on her skinny hips, "what are you doing now?" she sighed.

"race, wanna join in?" Gina asked. Erin grinned and took off, Gina running as well. They were both oddly fast and agile, and had amazing endurance. When they raced was the only time they truly got a long. Gina would laugh and Erin would howl like a wolf, which made Gina laugh even more. The wind whipped both of their faces, and the occasional small stray branch would get in their way, but they continued on and ran as fast as they could. Suddenly though, Gina tripped over, tumbling and turning, feeling sick as she smacked into the ground over and over again. Then suddenly she was sprawled out on the middle of the floor, breathing heavily. Erin had stopped running and now walk over to her, standing high above her. She leaned lower with a patronizing grin on her face.

"see this is why most people tie their shoelaces," she said, and suddenly they were both laughing. Gina hauled herself up to sitting position and twisted round so she was facing forward. Then her laughter stopped and she frowned. Erin stopped to and had obviously seen what Gina saw. They both exchanged a glance. There in front of them, was an enormous house. it was completely rundown and looked like no one had lived in it for years. The house was surrounded by massive trees that made it seem like it was in a natural photo frame.

"hey, what's that?" Erin asked. Gina stood up.

"it's an old, abandoned house, what dya think?" she said. she glanced at Erin with a grin and headed over to the house. there were vines and grass and plants growing everywhere and the fence was kicked with dust and dirt. Gina ran her finger across the top of the fence, walking around following it. There was a sign in front of her now, that was old, rusty and crooked. Gina tilted her head sideways to read it.

"the...Hermtig?" she said, confused. Erin rolled her eyes and ran over.

"it says Hermitage you numbskull," she snapped. She looked the house over from where she was. Erin was sure she recognised it, "let's check it out," she said. quickly, she jumped the fence and headed to the door. Gina stayed where she was. Erin turned to her with a mock evil grin on her face, "unless your scared?" she muttered. Gina scoffed at her and jumped the fence, wandering over. The garden was completely overgrown and messy. There were random thistles and nettles and occasional piles of twigs. There were also pages of books everywhere on the floor. Gina stopped at one. It had a picture of a tall boat on the ocean, greek mythology, she thought. It said "skidbladnir" at the top of the page, which was circled and underlined. Gina folded the page and put it in her pocket too. Erin had stopped at the stairs, leading inside. Gina looked at her, shocked that she had stopped.

"what if it falls and crushes us?" she asked nervously. Gina gave her a "that's it?" look.

"if it can hold itself up it can hold us up, considering your just above, like, nothing," she assured, grabbing the sleeve of Erin's dress and yanking her inside. inside the Hermitage was even worse. Dust was kicked on everywhere, there were cobwebs and flies and moths fluttering about. Everything seemed out of place and broken and everything seemed to have gained a dull grey colour. Gina walked further in, with Erin gripping her arm tightly.

"I thought I was too low a class for you to touch?" Gina said. "unless your scared," she added nastily. Erin looked at her, genuine fear in her eyes,

"it's okay If the place I'm in is dirtier than you are," she said, proudly. Gina rolled her eyes and continued in. There were some places in the house that seemed less dusty than others, like someone had already been here. Gina didn't mind, she continued on upstairs to the top floor. Most of the doors were closed and probably locked, except one at the end. Gina looked at Erin and Erin looked at Gina.

"maybe I'll just wait outside," Erin said. Gina grabbed her shoulder when she tried to leave,

"oh no you don't, you said you wanted to have a look at this house, and if I fall your falling with me," she ordered. Erin sighed and walked with Gina to the end room. It was a small room, painted pink, or used to be pink. There was a single poster of a tree on one end and it had been torn down. As Gina looked closer she saw that it had a gap in the wall. Erin grabbed her hand to stop her from trying to check it out.

"I don't want anyone, not even you, to be eaten by some ferocious mutant bug, don't you dare," she said, releasing Gina's hand. Gina gave her a sideways glance and grinned stuffing her hand inside to check it out while Erin's fingernails poked into Gina's arm. Gina looked at Erin with a triumphant gaze and then screamed loudly, in pain. Erin screamed until Gina started to laugh in amusement. Erin put her hands on her hips, unamused.

"classic," Gina mumbled. She felt around in the hole in the wall and felt something like paper. She frowned and found the edge of it, grabbing hold of it and pulling it out. It was a notepad. Erin looked over Gina's shoulder on her tiptoes to get a glimpse. Gina would flick page after page, which looked like diary entries.

_January 2__nd__ 2007_

_Jeremy has found a program to build a virtual submarine so that me, Yumi, Ulrich and Odd can find William in the digital sea, I really think Jeremy's research is moving forward, I can't wait for us to build the submarine._

_Yours_

_Aelita __Stones __ Hopper. _

Gina stared in amazement at the diary entry. She didn't understand what it meant about a supercomputer or a virtual submarine. But she did recognise the names. She pulled the list of phone numbers from her pocket. She looked from it to the diary entry. What were the chances of finding more than one person named Aelita Hopper in this town?

"who's Aelita?" Erin asked, just as perplexed. Gina shrugged.

"I'm gonna go back to the school, you coming?" she said. Erin nodded.

"I need a serious bath after touching you and being in this crud stained house," she explained, passing Gina swiftly.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Mr Riley clicked the computer program again. The system had been slow lately, and so he hadn't been paid a whole lot. He rocked back on his chair. His boss didn't usually pay him a lot anyway, so why did he care? Mr Riley sipped his coffee and refreshed the program again. As he continued to try and refresh the page he thought of his family. What would they be doing right now if they were alive? He rolled his eyes as the page crashed again. There was a link at the side which said about "fast and easy connection". Mr Riley thought and bit his lip. What if it was virused? What if his boss found out? He would be dead meat if his boss found out he had been wasting disk space on unnecessary software. He shook his head and clicked on it. suddenly a huge, red and black logo appeared on his screen. He heard pulsation and a deep growl like a bear. It was as if it was coming from the logo. Suddenly his keyboard began to fizzle and he felt a jolt of electricity hit his fingertips, making him fall off his chair with shock.

"what the hell is going on?" Mr Riley said and suddenly, the computer switched off.

"rise and shine, sleeping beauty, the sun is shining, the birds are singing and we have got a maths test this morning," Gina bellowed in mock cheerfulness. Erin moaned and rolled over, covering her head with her pillow. Gina giggled and rolled her eyes. she pulled on a light jacket and grabbed her schoolbag. Erin remained in her bed. Gina sighed and walked over.

"don't make me tickle you out," she warned. Erin swatted at Gina with her well manicured, perfume scented hand.

"dare touch me and I'll start shouting "rape!" I'm still trying to get your previous germs off my hands," Erin barked sharply. Gina laughed and went to the door.

"fine by me, but your gonna miss breakfast if you sit around there," she said. Erin shot up like a bolt.

"I'm up!" she shouted. Gina rolled her eyes and left.

Gina stared down at the notepad. She had told herself over and over that it was the wrong thing to do, to take it, but her curiosity got the better of her. She flicked through page after page, looking for something, but not knowing exactly what. She went to the page she had first seen. Did it have something to do with the "skidbladnir" page she found? She flicked through a few more pages. There. This Aelita was talking about the submarine again.

_14__th__ june 2007_

_We managed to finish creating the submarine tonight. Odd wanted to call it Melanie, after the red haired girl he likes. But Jeremy said no, that it was a silly name. I went back to the hermitage tonight as well, I found a book my father, Franz Hopper, used to read to me. it was about Norse mythology. I found a mythological ship that could travel on both land and sea. It was called the "Skidbladnir". I wanted to tell Jeremy and the others about it, but I think I'll wait until we finish building it._

_Yours_

_Aelita hopper._

Gina smiled. She knew it. but was this girl crazy? A digital ship, William, a digital sea, it all sounded like madness to Gina. Whatever it was, she was going to ask questions. She pulled out the list of phone numbers as well as her mobile. Quickly, she added the numbers to her phone. This was crazy, these people probably didn't even live in this country. She was in over her head. There was the sound of fast footsteps coming towards her. It was probably Erin catching her up. Gina put the list back in her pocket when she finished adding the numbers and suddenly she felt someone whack into her. It happened fast. Some stupid kid ran at her, smacked into her and sent her flying to the ground. Gina felt her phone slip out of her hand and fall to the floor, the battery falling out. The notepad went in the other direction and thumped into the kid's feet. It was a boy, Gina realised. He looked apologetic and worried about this.

"hey what's your problem?" Gina snapped. The kid knelt down and passed her back the notepad.

"sorry, I was in a rush, I forgot to lock my door," he explained, then held out his hand, "Daniel Grant," he introduced.

"Gina," Gina responded, taking the notepad and crawling over to her phone, "oh crap, I bet it's lost all its memory," she moaned. Daniel came over and collected the battery and phone cover. He took hold of the phone and slotted the battery and phone cover over the top. Then he began poking at the buttons and punching in loads of codes. Gina watched in shock as the sound of the phone starting up came on. Daniel saw her shocked expression. He passed her her phone back.

"my dad's a technician, he taught me all about how to work this stuff," he explained. "your welcome," he added. Gina smiled at him thoughtfully.

"thanks," she said, as Daniel helped her up.

"Georgina Gomez why didn't you wait for me?" Erin's whining voice called from down the hall. Her hair was in two pigtails today and she had a stern, pouty face on. Her arms were folded as she marched down the hallway over to them. she shoved Daniel out the way and put her hands on her hips.

"well?" she said firmly. Gina looked at her in a perplexed manner. Daniel put his hand on Erin's shoulder. Gina stared at him in warning, slightly shaking her head.

"It was my fault, sorry, I accidently knocked into her and we went to find her phone and notepad," he said. Erin turned to him. Daniel was a tall boy, so Erin had to crane her neck up to see his face. She had an annoyed face on, which melted to shock when she realised how good looking he was.

"don't worry about it, I'm sure it was all my clumsy room mates' fault, she never looks where she's going," she said, emphasising "clumsy roommate". Gina raised her eyebrows at them. she couldn't believe how easily Daniel had Erin wrapped round his finger. Erin smiled. Daniel glanced up at Gina in a triumphant way as if he was telling her "you were saying?" Gina shrugged in confusion. Erin linked arms with Daniel and stared up at him with a bright white smile.

"wanna have lunch with me and her?" she asked. Gina raised an eyebrow. Her, huh? She thought satirically. Daniel agreed, which didn't surprise Gina or Erin.

"only if you let go of my arm," was Daniel condition as he slipped his arm out of Erin's.

Gina liked breakfast time. It was one of the times when Erin didn't insult her as much, like a neutral zone for little snobs. But that was mainly because Erin usually had her mouth full of food. It was something she really enjoyed obviously. But when Daniel sat down to have lunch with them, Erin suppressed her usual eating habits and ate like a lady, which meant more talking. Daniel turned out to be the son of a major CEO. His father owned a company that worked with computers, phones, TV's; so Daniel was fully briefed with almost anything electronic.

"so Gina, what was that little list you had on you?" he asked. Gina wasn't sure she wanted to respond. If she did say, Daniel might rat on her since they weren't close at all, but if she didn't he would become much more curious and probably find out anyway. So she pulled out the little crumpled post it note and placed it in front of Erin and Daniel.

"I took it from Principal Delmas's desk when I first arrived, I wasn't sure what to do. I would feel like an idiot calling and saying "hi, my name's Gina, I stole a list from my principal's desk which had your name on it, I just thought I'd call to say hi!" wouldn't you?" she explained. Daniel checked over the list carefully, examining each of the numbers carefully. He tapped the name Jeremy Belpois.

"that guy used to own the company my dad owns, but his wife told him he was working too hard and missing out on family stuff so he became the technician for the main factory, my dad invites him to dinner sometimes," he explained. Gina bit her lip to resist the urge to ask about him, but Daniel noticed fast, "you can come and meet him if you want? I'll ask dad if you can come to dinner," he offered. Gina nodded but saw Erin glaring intensely at her. She looked like a five year old who's mum refused to buy her something. Quickly Gina turned back to Daniel.

"only if Erin can come too," she said, watching as Erin's face turned red. Daniel looked at Gina and Erin and shrugged one shoulder.

"sure, but I'm not sure such a perfect princess would like being around my inferior family," he said sourly. Gina could tell he was playing around but Erin looked genuinely hurt and turned away from the boy. Gina brushed her dark hair out of her face in a single hair flip and patted Erin on the shoulder from across the table, watching as the girl grimaced in disgust.

"don't worry Erin, I'm sure you can make friends with the butler or something," she joked, slapping Daniel a small high five under the table. Erin glared. "aw come on Rin cake, your making this too easy," Gina added. Erin rolled her eyes and sat silently for the rest of the meal.

"gina," Erin moaned, "what was that whole weird pity act you put on? You don't like him do you?" she whined. Gina rolled her eyes. boyfriends and girly mush really wasn't something she was ready for. "gina?" Erin repeated. Gina sighed in annoyance and stopped Erin in her tracks. She faced Erin and looked her in the eye.

"I do not like Daniel Grant, he's nice but I just don't have any of those kind of feelings for anyone and I won't for a while," she promised. Erin stared at her.

"promise?" she asked. Gina nodded with a genuine smile. She held out her hand.

"shake on it," she suggested. Erin stared at her hand. she reached forward to her hand and bit her lip. Then pulled back and turned away.

"are you super sure? Coz I don't like it when friends lie to each other," she said. Gina dropped her hand and just stared at Erin in amazement. She blinked twice and put her hand on Erin's shoulder with a grin on her face.

"did you just say friends?" she asked. Erin's face shot up. She blushed discretely and scoffed.

"no way, of course not, I may have said that, but I meant rivals, enemies even," she saved. Gina nodded unconvinced. She laughed a little and made Erin face her again.

"I honestly promise that I don't like him, and nothing could change that, he's all yours," she confirmed. Erin's face edged into a smile and she giggled.

"thanks," she said. well that's a first, Gina thought.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Yumi was sleeping. Ulrich had his arm lightly over her waist as he slept. Yumi's eyes flickered open. She had had the dream again. The one about that little baby, Her little baby. It was for the best that she got rid of her. Yumi hadn't been ready or prepared. It wasn't something she was proud of but she would give her life to see her little girl now. she looked at Ulrich. She couldn't believe that at some time a few years back he had been a short, shy and sulky teenager. Now she looked at him and saw serenity and relaxation in his sleeping eyes. she pushed her hand through his dark brown hair. Slowly she saw Ulrich's eyes squint open, which happened a lot. She and him never woke up too far apart. Ulrich looked at Yumi with very slight worry in his eyes.

"what's up?" he yawned. Yumi smiled at him. She kissed his cheek affectionately.

"I just woke up, nothing's wrong," she cooed. Suddenly there was the sound of loud, clunky footsteps outside. Deep breathing and an angry presence appeared. Yumi and Ulrich shot up and ran over to the window. There was no sign of anyone moving around. But the footsteps were coming towards them, getting slightly louder. Yumi grabbed Ulrich's shoulder and pointed at the corner of the street where a man stood. She couldn't see his face properly, but when Ulrich looked the man stopped in his tracks. There was a kind of malfunction, as if the man was an illusion or a broken record as he fuzzed up a moment and went back to normal.

"no, it couldn't be," Ulrich breathed. Yumi took hold of his hand. she didn't even want him to say it, or think it. suddenly the man began to run towards their house, his breathing ragged and fuzzy and his movements like a crashed computer program. He smashed into the door and broke right through. Yumi heard pulsations from below and squeezed her eyes shut to prevent herself from crying. If it was what they thought it was, they could die that night. There was suddenly banging on the door. Ulrich and Yumi span round. They exchanged a glance and got into a battle stance. Suddenly the door banged down and the man walked in, his mouth growling. Yumi and Ulrich saw the symbol in his eyes and suddenly they knew they were right.

"Xana," they said together, and everything went black.

"so, Daniel, what was that hiding place you were talking about at dinner last night?" Erin asked. Daniel shrugged one shoulder. He pushed his hand through his blonde spikes as he tried to remember. Then he snapped his fingers.

"oh yeah, my friend Mel was telling me about this abandoned factory that she passes on the way home. She really wants to check out but she never has, she's a bit of a wuss," he explained. Erin smiled at him. She stared at his gorgeous blonde spikes, his crystal blue eyes and line of delicate freckles on his nose.

"you have a bit of a slow memory, huh?" she said. she was kidding about, and Daniel knew it. he grinned at her.

"oh, wait, I know this one.....yeah I do don't i!" he said. Erin giggled. "so you wanna check it out with me and Mel and Gina?" Daniel continued. Erin thought. She wanted to spend time with Daniel and in her mind she was screaming that she was getting along so well with him. But she liked to make herself seem very busy.

"I think I can, what day?" she responded. Daniel smiled.

"it's tonight," he said. Erin smiled and nodded, hoping she didn't look as eager as she was, "it's a date then," Daniel joked. Erin laughed and pushed him gently.

"careful, I might start actually liking you," she mocked. Daniel laughed, "see you later," Erin said as she headed upstairs. Daniel waved and headed off himself. Who knew she could be so sweet? Daniel asked himself.

Gina woke Erin up at 11pm. She was already dressed and looked like she hadn't slept at all. Erin squinted up at her, the room light blaring at her. She rubbed her eyes and blinked twice to adjust to the light.

"what?" she moaned. Gina raised an eyebrow with a grin on her smug face.

"did you forget?" she said, "we're going to the factory, remember," she added. Erin shot up in her bed. Gina rolled her eyes and brushed her hand against the door handle.

"hurry up, I'm leaving," she instructed, opening and closing the door as she left. Gina wandered along the corridor still staring at the notepad of Aelita Hopper's. She must have known Jeremy Belpois. Gina would have to ask Daniel about it later. She flicked through page after page. Then back to the start.

_Jeremy finally managed to materialise me here on Earth, I can't believe all of the things that have happened already. He blushes a lot around me which I think is sweet. But Xana ruined everything. He implanted a virus in me, or so Jeremy says. We can't shut down the super computer until we get rid of this stupid virus and if we don't get rid of the super computer the world could be in big danger_

_Yours_

_Aelita Stones_

Gina blinked. She could have sworn her name was different. It seemed that Aelita had two last names, or she was making one of them up. Quickly, Gina pulled out her mobile and phoned Daniel.

"hey where are we supposed to meet up?" she asked, trying to sound innocent. Daniel made a humming noise.

"we're all at the park right now, we're gonna head off soon, so you and Erin better hurry it up," he said. Gina agreed and managed to avoid asking about Aelita. It was a coincidence that he knew Jeremy already, him knowing who Aelita was, was really unlikely. Gina shook her head to get the thought out of her mind and headed to the park. Sure enough, Daniel stood leaning against a tree in the park. He smiled when he saw Gina, and resisted asking where Erin was. Standing next to Daniel was a tall girl, a bit taller than Gina who had such a carefree and calm face that Gina wasn't sure it was possible. She was unimaginably beautiful and extremely skinny.

"this is Melanie Reynolds, Mel, this is Gina," Daniel introduced.

"sup Gina," Mel said, shaking Gina's hand. "so yeah, we're gonna leave soon, so where's your friend Erin or whatever?" she asked. Gina shrugged, she wasn't sure that Erin would enjoy being called "whatever".

"I dunno, but we'd better go, she'll catch up, she knows this town like the back of her hand," she said. Daniel and Mel exchanged a glance to confirm and nodded.

the factory was enormous. Gina was shocked any building could be as big as it was. And it was almost completely empty. Daniel and Melanie had brought skateboards with them. they found lots of ramps and platforms to jump off. Gina would watch them and applaud their tricks. Daniel had just completed a perfect 360o when Gina's phone rang. She reached down and picked it up. Erin's phone number appeared in big black letters.

"Erin?" Gina remarked. Erin sounded annoyed and whiny again. Daniel spotted Gina's face fall and wandered over, snatching the phone out from Gina's hand and placing it next to his ear.

"yo, Erin why aren't you here yet?" he demanded. Gina saw his face smile. He had a light blush on his cheeks and he seemed distant. Gina rolled her eyes with a warm smile on her face. She stood up and headed up, wanting some air. There was nothing Gina liked more than looking at a starry sky, and the roof of the factory had long since gone. It looked like an abandoned football stadium in a way. Gina span round on the spot. She let the cool air wash over her like a wave. Suddenly she dropped her plimsoll and found herself almost fell, but grabbed hold of the bar next to her. But she had obviously hit a button because suddenly there was the noise of an elevator coming towards her. She stepped backwards as the huge carriage showed up.

"whoa," she muttered, heading inside. she pushed the button that said "down" and she shot down like a bolt. She stopped at a door that looked like something out of a science fiction movie. The door steamed and began to slowly open. Inside there was a massive supercomputer and a large empty area in front of it. there were no lights on and the computer wasn't switched on. Gina hopped onto the seat that was attached to the computer and stared at the monitor, taking in everything. She had the urge to go and tell Daniel, Erin and Mel about it, but clenched her fists and told herself no. She looked around the massive room she was in. There was a ladder at one side. Gina shrugged and wandered over. She stepped on and let herself climb down. the room she was in now had lights already. It was a strange room. There were loose wires everywhere. And there were three massive tubes that Gina was curious about. She hopped of the last rut of the ladder and took a wander round.

"hey do you know where Gina is?" Erin asked. She had arrived moments ago and wanted to see her roommate so she could give her a piece of her mind. Daniel shrugged one shoulder.

"I'm pretty sure she went upstairs," he said. Erin took hold of Daniel's hand and yanked him upstairs with her. Gina was nowhere in sight, Although Erin saw her shoe on the floor by an empty area. There was a yellow button on one of the pillars to the side nearest Gina's shoe. There were also wires and ropes hanging in the middle of the empty area.

"I think it's an elevator," Erin said. she pushed the yellow button and stepped back as the elevator pulled itself up. Daniel took hold of Erin's arm, pulling her back. The elevator appeared and they stepped on, not worried at all. They fell further than Gina had. To an even bigger room. It was completely empty and there was a slot with a large red and black logo on. Erin stood on top of the logo, confused. Suddenly a huge column began to rise from the floor and the ground shook slightly. Erin heard a loud moaning growl and she stepped back into Daniel's arms. The column was enormous, it filled almost the entire room. It was dark green and there were all sorts of random pathways of what probably used to be colour. There was a lever on one side, the side closest to Daniel and Erin. Erin pushed Daniel off her gently, blushing madly. She wandered over to the lever and ran her finger along it. Daniel grabbed her wrist.

"think about this, Erin, it might be a self destruct mechanism," he barked at her. He was obviously afraid. Erin raised an eyebrow and yanked her hand away.

"does it look like a self destruct mechanism to you?" she asked. Daniel glanced at it and back to Erin. He shook his head and Erin smiled. She breathed in and out and pushed the lever down. suddenly a massive flash consumed the two. It was as if they had just been blinded. But soon the light dimmed and they could see again. The column was now flowing with life. There were yellow pathways that looked like there was some kind of liquid flowing through it. Erin turned slowly on her heels and looked at Daniel with a mischievous gaze.

"let's check upstairs," she said, running to the elevator. Daniel followed her and they practically flew up to the main frame. When they walked in the whole room was alive with light and life. Daniel looked like he had just seen heaven on earth. He was grinning so big his mouth looked too big for his face. He ran over to the monitor and leapt into the seat. Erin trotted over in time to see him type in thousands of codes that she couldn't remember if her life depended on it. she looked at Daniel, who's eyes were fixed with concentration and confusion at the moment.

"what?" she asked.

"this factory must have been run from the bottom all the way to the top. This computer is far to powerful to have been used for just ordering around mechanical arms," Daniel explained.

Gina had discovered by now that she had no idea how to get back up to the top floor. There was a button for calling the elevator, but when she tried it the door got jammed. So she hung around, using a metal pole to prod at stray wires. She trudged over to one of the scanners. It was big and golden coloured, much like a king's coffin, or what Gina thought was a king's coffin. She ran her finger completely around the outside but stopped when she got to an area lower down than the rest.

"oh my god am I gonna be stuck here?" she moaned quietly. There was no point in shouting because no one was in here.

Daniel blinked. Erin stared at what he was staring at, glancing back and forth between the monitor and Daniel.

"uh, what?" she asked. Daniel pointed to a window that had appeared. It had hundreds of numbers and codes, a html. It had the words "transference, scanning and virtualisation process" written as the title. And underneath was "diary of Jeremy Belpois".

"who's Jeremy Belpois?" Erin asked. Daniel looked like he had just been diagnosed with cancer.

"Jeremy Belpois works for my dad, so what was he ever doing here?" he asked aloud.

Gina sat on the wench below, spinning it as she span in circles. She had never been more bored in her life and she had a slight dose of vertigo, which was why she hadn't climbed the ladder.

"wait, this thing looks like, like, something from a video game or something. It's like this computer is trying to get me to do something," Daniel said. he typed in some more codes. "god this stuff is easy! My dad taught me how this works when I was a kid," he laughed. He typed in more codes. Then a new window appeared.

Gina stood up and began to wander over to the stairs, left with no choice. About halfway there she stopped and turned. There was a large coffin thingie to one side that she had wanted to see inside. so she wandered over.

"I must be crazy," she told herself. but somehow she felt like she had been here before. it was like it was a familiar place to her. She stepped inside the large tube and looked around. Inside the ceiling was bright and white yet the rest of the tube was gold like the outside. Gina noticed panels of either side which were probably doors at some point.

"hey lets see if it works, wish me luck," Daniel said. "you go down and get ready and I'll start this thing up," he added. Erin wasn't sure she trusted Daniel but she stepped across anyway and headed down the ladder. Daniel typed in more codes and numbers and messages into the computer. Then he hit the enter key. Erin jumped the bottom rut of ladder and ran over to one of the scanner things. She looked across from it, still scared and she jumped back. Gina was stood in one of them, turned away from her as if she was looking for something. She was on her tiptoes and she was looking up.

"Gina?" Erin said. Gina turned to see her but suddenly the doors shut in front of her.

"hey let me outta here Erin, you hear me? let me out!" she called, banging on the doors. Erin was in shock. She couldn't even move. She heard Daniel's voice from above, but was too horrified to respond.

"Erin you in?" Daniel called. No response. Daniel took it as a yes and click the enter key again. Gina felt a sudden burst of air from the floor and found herself rising slightly on the spot. Her breathing was short and she couldn't understand what in the world Erin was doing. Erin had almost stopped breathing altogether. But she gathered herself quickly and headed up the ladder.

"virtualisation?" Daniel tried and hit the enter key.

"no! Bad Daniel! Gina's in one of those scanners!" Erin cried. Daniel turned to her, horror on his face.

"no way, this isn't happening!" he yelled, letting his head fall onto his hands.

"lemme see!" Erin ordered, looked onto the screen.

Gina felt kind of funny. Her atoms seemed to collect and she seemed to be teleported somewhere. She was in the air now, but as soon as she looked up she fell to the floor.

"ow!" she said, pulling herself up. Daniel's head shot up. He picked up the headphone that had been lying around lazily and he attached it to his ear.

"Gina? Are you there?" he called frantically. Erin gripped his arm tightly when there was no response.

"yeah, but, where am i?" Gina responded.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"so, I want some answers you guys, where am I and what am I doing here?" Gina called up. She couldn't see anyone but a voice had just asked if she was there so she was pretty sure she wasn't crazy, pretty sure.

"um, well, I think it might have been me," Daniel said, laughing. Gina nodded and laughed with him.

"get me out of here!" she shouted angrily. She looked herself over. She was in some kind of ninja outfit. Her hair was tied in two buns with hanging pigtails and there was a large headband around her forehead. She was wearing a long dress which looked like it had only been sewed halfway down. she had leggings underneath that were in a dark green colour.

"please get me out of here, I look like a cross between Meilin Li and Sakura Heruno!" she whined.

"who and who? I don't know how to get you out, is there like, a building or something near you? That looks like one of the scanners? It might lead out" Daniel said. Gina looked around. She saw it. there was a blue hue around the outside of it and a halo on top.

"kay, I'll get going, but, can't you like, give me a car or something? You got me here right?" she remarked. Daniel groaned. He began typing some more codes and numbers.

"actually, there are a couple things, wanna motorbike, a surfboard or a scooter?" he responded. Gina smiled. She giggled.

"surprise me," she said. Daniel hit the enter key. As he did a kind of hover board appeared in front of Gina. It was dark purple and looked a bit like a cat. Gina carefully stepped up on it. she placed her foot on top of the ignition. "here I go," she mumbled, hitting the ignition sharply and shooting off. The surfboard moved so quick Gina was lucky she stayed on. But she found she was good at it after a while. She weaved through trees and eventually began to have fun about it. she span in barrel rolls and sometimes rode upside down.

"woohoo! Who knew hover boarding could be this fun?" she called to Daniel.

"quit messing around Gina," Daniel snapped. Gina flipped back to normal and continued flying.

"sorry, mum, I just wanted to have a little fun," she mocked in a fake sweet voice. Daniel obviously rolled his eyes at this.

"hey I'm here," Gina announced, stopping the hoverboard in its tracks. She turned to it, "you stay right here," she joked. she winked and patted the hover board on its "head". Then she turned and ran to the tower. As she arrived in front of it she stopped. There was no door. she frowned.

"uh, Daniel, there's no door on this thing," she called. Daniel frowned. He looked at Erin, who had been silent for a while. Erin shrugged.

"it says you can go in though, if you ask me this place is a bit too empty," she said, pointing to the screen. Suddenly a giant logo engulfed the screen. It appeared everywhere. Daniel and Erin were taken back. It thumped and pulsated. Suddenly the elevator door behind them opened. Mel was standing there with her arms crossed in a frustrated fashion.

"what the hell have you guys been doing?" she said in annoyance. As she walked in her anger turned to amazement. "whoa," she muttered, "it's like a,"

"we know," Erin and Daniel responded.

"uh, Daniel," Gina said. "there's something here, it looks like some kind of giant cockroach?" she explained. The cockroach began edging sideways and then shot a lightning bolt at Gina, as if it was shocked to see her. "hey! It's shooting at me!" she cried. The creature shot at her again and Gina screamed, running away.

"help!" she moaned, "I can't get back to the weird hover board thingie!"

"it's called an overboard apparently, and I think that place your in called l-lyoko?" Daniel said calmly. He seemed to have difficulty pronouncing the word Lyoko.

"who cares?!" Gina screamed as the creature shot at her again and she tumbled to the floor. "hey, that didn't hurt," she said, shocked. The creature shot again and Gina leapt up. She fondled in her pockets. She pulled out star shaped discus' and knives.

"why have I got kunai knives? And shuriken?" she asked, pulling the weapons out.

"who cares? Just attack that stupid cockroach!" Gina nodded and got into a battle stance. She span on the spot and threw three kunai at the cockroach. One bounced off it's head, one missed entirely and one hit on the logo in the middle of it. the creature began to stop moving and then exploded completely. Gina smiled and wandered over to pick up her kunai.

"whoa," Mel said. she smiled, "I wanna go!"

"me too," Erin said. she looked at Daniel. Daniel glanced between Erin and Mel.

"fine," he muttered. Erin giggled and hugged Daniel. Daniel blushed as Erin and Mel headed down the ladder again. He began typing in codes fast, preparing for the two to be virtualised. Gina kicked at the floor. The tower she had run from had turned red a few minutes ago. She assumed it was like one of those kids colour changing teddy bears. Suddenly a window appeared on Daniel's screen. it showed an activated tower as it said. quickly Daniel quit the window and began to transfer the two girls.

"you guys ready?" he called. The girls called up that they were and Daniel began the process. The doors in front of Erin and Mel closed. Mel squeaked.

"sorry, I get claustrophobic sometimes," she said.

"okay," Daniel said slowly. He The elevator door next to him opened, "hey Mel, just coz your scared doesn't mean you shouldn't go through with this," he said. he looked up. A man was standing there. He had dark, shaggy hair and an angry look on his face. His eyes seemed to have a logo in them. the same logo from on the screen.

"hey, who are you?" Daniel asked. The man ran to him and whacked him away. Daniel went flying into the wall across and fell to the floor, out cold. Gina stood on lyoko, bored. She heard the sound of a scream above, but figured Erin had just tried to take the controls. She wandered around. Suddenly she turned and there were three large red creatures that resembled large crabs. Gina threw her kunai knives at one and a shuriken at a different one. Both missed, skimming on the top.

"oh man, how am I supposed to kill you if you're so tall?" she moaned. The creatures prepared to fire at her. "your actually gonna make me run again?" Gina whined and turned, running towards the tower. The crabs shot at her over and over again as she moaned in annoyance.

"leave me alone!" she whinged, throwing another kunai knife at them. it hit one, who stopped moving and exploded. Gina smiled, but continued running. She was seconds away from the tower now. But the creatures shot at her again and she tripped over her feet, somersaulting over. Quickly she breathed heavily and jumped to the tower, falling in and landing on some kind of platform. Gina held her hand to her head.

"Daniel?" she called. The man was now throwing electric sparks at Daniel, who ran round trying to get away. Suddenly the man hit him on his side, watching as he yelped and fell over on his arm, cringing. Gina shook her head when he didn't respond, and walked to the centre of the tower. Suddenly she found herself rising up. There was a platform above her, and Gina was too mesmerized to mind. She landed on the top of the other platform softly.

"daniel? Why aren't you listening to me?" she said. Erin and Mel climbed back up the ladder to see the man attacking Daniel.

"hey! Leave him alone!" Erin screamed, running towards the man. The man threw a lightning bolt at her like it was a knife. Erin pirouetted beautifully, dodging it. she stag leapt onto the man's back, punching him in the head. The man didn't even notice. Gina stepped forward. Suddenly an interface appeared. She blinked and stepped back slightly. But, she slowly reached her hand up. She pulled back slightly, but placed her hand on the interface. The interface submitted her name into the machine. Then the words "code Lyoko" appeared on the interface. Suddenly the man's eyes returned to normal and he fell to the ground, unconscious. Erin blinked and wandered over to Daniel.

"you okay?" she asked. Daniel groaned pathetically.

"define 'okay'," he moaned. Erin grinned.

"so, tell me, what happened while I was having a blast on this Lyoko place," Gina pestered. She, Mel and Erin were sitting on Daniel's bed while Daniel was spinning on a revolving chair.

"well let's just say, things got a bit out of hand," he explained. Gina tried to smile. Daniel's hair was sticking up still, without his hair gel. Erin and Mel had to bite their lips to stop from laughing.

"we want to go there as well," Erin said, gesturing to Mel. Gina stared at them. she laughed.

"right, you wanna go to a place where monsters try to kill you, were your dressed up like an idiot and get transferred back to Earth feeling like you're about to be sick?" she asked. Erin and Mel looked at each other. They shrugged.

"sure," they said together. Gina rolled her eyes.

"either way, since we turned that thing on, there's been this guy who tried to kill me and the other two girls, we don't wanna get killed do we?" Daniel said, "we may as well shut this thing down for now," Erin and Mel looked disappointed, but they agreed anyway. In the computer lab, Erin, Gina, Mel and Daniel stood around the super calculator.

"bye bye, Lyoko," Daniel said, shutting off the super computer.

"see you later Mel, Daniel," Erin and Gina said, leaving.

"bye," Mel said to Daniel as she left. Daniel yawned and went back to school, changed and got into bed. That night, as he slept though, a large logo appeared on his computer screen.


	6. Chapter 6

Closing chapter, chapter 6

Gina and Erin sat in their bedroom. It was about four thirty on a Sunday. Erin had only just woken up. Gina was going to meet up with this Jeremy Belpois at Daniel's house tonight. She was reading through Aelita's notes. None of them were personal things, just things about Lyoko. Gina had been one of the only ones who wanted to go back to Lyoko again. Then again, she had been the only one who went there anyway. Erin stretched out. She was still in her pyjamas, silk of course.

"why do I always get so tired on weekends?" she yawned. Gina scoffed at her.

"maybe it's because you don't go to sleep until 3am on school days," she evaluated. Erin poked her tongue out at Gina in mock annoyance. Gina grinned and continued reading Aelita's notes. Erin stretched out again and swung her legs over her bed. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. Gina smiled at her.

"well, I have Ballet class in ten minutes, I may as well get dressed," she said, wandering over to the wardrobe and pulling out a pair of frilly leggings and a loose jersey top with the words "untouchable" and "princess" written across the chest. Gina coughed to smother a giggle. That suits her, she thought.

"do I look okay? I thought your dad was like, a poshie or something," Gina said quickly. Daniel was in a suit, but apart from that looked completely normal. Gina and Erin were told to wear something formal. Daniel said his parents were very fashionable. Gina and Erin were both dressed in pretty, stylish dresses that were picked out by Erin. Gina's hair was curled and loose, while Erin's was in a fashionable bun.

"you look fine, plus at least your dress takes attention away from your very badly done eyeliner," Erin joked. Gina shot her a look and Erin raised her hands up defensively. Gina turned to Daniel.

"so, what's this Jeremy guy like? Is he nice?" she asked. Daniel shrugged one shoulder.

"he seemed kind of enthusiastic to meet you, but apart from that you couldn't really tell," he said simply, "I warn you though, he is very technical, in fact sometimes people get so confused, including my dad, that his wife has to translate for him," he added, then thought, obviously remembering a time when it happened. Gina and Erin exchanged a glance. Daniel shook his head when they didn't understand and led the girls to the dining room. Erin and Gina were taken back when they walked in. It was like a palace in the dining room. It was enormous. There were hand calved emblems and cupids embedded in the walls. The table was enormous and seemed like something you would use at a wedding. The ceiling was painted like it was meant to represent heaven. The whole room looked like something out of a dream. There were tables at the sides of the room with beautifully made crockery and expensive pot plants around the place.

"well they certainly invested their money wisely," Gina mumbled. She could barely speak she as so shocked. Daniel's family were already seated. So were Jeremy's. Jeremy was blonde. His face was serious, but at the same time relieved. He seemed nice. His wife sat next to him. She had pink hair that fell to her shoulders. She looked sweet and passionate as she smiled kindly at Daniel. They also had children. There were two children sitting next to Jeremy and his wife, and they looked like twins. And next to them was a sulky looking twelve year old girl and a shorter, quieter little boy who was busy skimming a book. On Daniel's side though, were two breathtakingly beautiful adults. Mr and Mrs Grant were the most beautiful looking people you could imagine. They both had dark blonde hair that was cut short. Mrs Grant seemed very satisfied with life and yet compassion was still in her eyes. Mr Grant was more power hungry obviously, but Mrs Grant had obviously whipped him into shape. They had five children, not including Daniel. All were girls aside from one who was still very young. Mr and Mrs Grant gestured Gina and Erin to sit in the seats provided and the two girls curtseyed humbly and sat.

"so your Daniel's friends? That's so sweet," Mrs Grant said. Jeremy's wife was staring at Gina with recognition in her eyes, as if Gina reminded her of somewhere, but she wasn't sure who.

"hi sweetie," she said when Gina looked, "so your Gina? I'm Aelita Belpois-Hopper," she introduced with a sweet, young voice. She seemed like the kind of person who was not only a good student in school but a good socialiser too.

"yeah, nice to meet you," Gina responded. Then she realised Aelita's name. She felt her purse, opening it and running her finger along the top of the notepad. Aelita still seemed to be watching Gina with that same recognition, as if she was someone who knew her well. But nonetheless, Aelita began to talk to Mrs Grant and the other adults when Gina didn't speak to her. Gina looked across at Jeremy. As she watched his positive face, and his serious expression when he told his twins to stop fighting, she realised she had no idea what she wanted to ask Jeremy. Until.

"um," she said. Jeremy looked at her, smiling, "your Jeremy Belpois, right?" she said. Jeremy frowned and nodded.

"yes?" he said. Gina bit her lip and then swallowed.

"what's Xana?" she asked. Jeremy stiffened up suddenly. He grabbed Aelita's hand and whispered something in her ear. Aelita's face went pale. Gina pulled the notepad out of her bag and handed it to Aelita.

"I think this is yours?" she asked. Aelita took it and looked worried. But she smiled and thanked Gina. Jeremy swallowed.

"I found something, it was this giant computer lab thing, and Daniel and Erin say that this huge logo appeared on the screen of the computer when we turned it on,"

"you turned it on?" Jeremy demanded. Gina nodded. Jeremy grabbed hold of Gina's wrist and asked her to follow Aelita and himself. They walked for a few minutes until they were far away from the dining room. Aelita looked worried and a bit scared, but Jeremy looked outraged.

"what did the logo look like?" he asked, his voice breaking.

"it looked like the picture you drew next to the word Xana," Gina explained to them. Aelita and Jeremy looked at each other.

"oh my god," Jeremy said.

"Yumi and Ulrich, they were telling the truth," Aelita said, gripping Jeremy's arm.

"what? about what?" Gina demanded. Jeremy and Aelita looked down at her as if they had just remembered she was there.

"Gina, you know this computer lab, did it have like, scanners there? Or anything like that?" Jeremy asked. Gina shrugged.

"yeah, in fact I was virtualised in one. There was this weird world that looked like play doh and there were these mean cockroaches and crabs that shot lasers at me," Jeremy swallowed. His eyes were full of horror. His eyes seemed to water but he refused to show it.

"he's back?" he began, "how can he be back? I thought we killed him! I thought Franz Hopper's data destroyed him," he snapped at no one. Aelita tilted his head up.

"Jeremy, you know that he's a computer program, there's no way we could actually kill him, we just neutralised him for a long time," she cooed. Jeremy looked at Gina.

"what did you do after you were on the weird play doh world?" he asked.

"you mean lyoko? We shut it down, it was too dangerous," Gina said, sensing something was very wrong.

"we can't use that program again, my father gave his life so we could use it that one time, not even he thought Xana could come back," Aelita said

"who is Xana?" Gina demanded. Aelita looked at Gina. She knelt down to Gina.

"he's bad news, Gina, very bad news," she explained softly. "Jeremy, you call Ulrich and Yumi, I'll get a hold of Odd, Gina, you and your friends need to come with me and Jeremy, is that okay?" Gina nodded. She followed Jeremy and Aelita out and took hold of Erin's arm on the way out, who grabbed onto Daniel for support.

"so where are we going and what are we going to do about Xana?" Gina asked. Aelita looked at her serious, focused expression and smiled. She remembered exactly who Gina reminded her of. Jeremy turned to them and then smiled at Aelita.

"gonna be like old times," he said, "we're gonna fight back," he concluded.


End file.
